Going to China soon...

[ElektroGuy]

One of my sims needs to learn martial arts so I'm heading to China soon. I bought a few LTRs that have to do with traveling. Is there anything I should bring or get there at first that's important? What's martial arts for anyways? I've never been mugged nor have I come across any butcher knife wielding psychopaths...

Also, do you have to learn photography in France, or can a class be taken locally? I was searching for a class in Bridgeport but didn't find any available. I could've missed it, though.

[varpunen]

I don't think you have to be in France. I just bought the camera while my sims was in Egypt and then some books about photography

Learning martial arts has it's benefits. You learn how to meditate (level 5 if I remember correctly), how to teleport (handy in tombs, for example) and how to seriously kick some mummy butt in egypt. :lol:

[HystericalParoxysm]

Going to China first is good for martial arts (and the reasons varpunen stated) as well as to do the quest for Pingu's Axe (I'm probably misremembering that name) which can allow you access to certain special areas in tombs - very useful so you don't have to return to a tomb later just to get all the treasure.

[Scout]

Also, with martial arts you can use the board breaker (buy it in China) and break space rock boards which can give you gems. There is a martial art skill challenge you should complete to increase your odds of getting a gem.

[Nekowolf]

I thought it was you needed to complete the challenge to get the gems in the first place?

Either way, it's an easy one. Forget how many, but you have to break so many oak boards. Seems like a lot at first, but you have to remember that after a few tries, you're breaking five oak boards at once, and they all count towards the total.

[Rawra]

You're going to China? Send us a postcard, will ya?

Neko, you can get gems anyway. I didn't even bother collecting them, I don't see the point in doing it.

[HystericalParoxysm]

Breaking boards is the fastest way I've found to get money. It's also the fastest way to get the rare, valuable gems such as soulpeace, tiberium, and pink diamonds.

[varpunen]

Going to China first is good for martial arts (and the reasons varpunen stated) as well as to do the quest for Pingu's Axe (I'm probably misremembering that name) which can allow you access to certain special areas in tombs - very useful so you don't have to return to a tomb later just to get all the treasure.

Oh yeah, the axe. Forgot that one. I could practically see my sim hitting her head against the tomb wall in Egypt after encountering a boulder the first time and she was propably thinking something like: "I have to go to China for this? You got to be kidding me!!!" I know I was. :lol:

[Revenwyn]

Definitely do China first. I had a sim defeat three mummies yesterday and not get cursed.

Oh yeah and with the gems, the size and value of the gems are much more, even if they are common ones. Although I haven't found a pink diamond yet by breaking space rocks, I've found everything else. What's tiberium for anyway? It made poor Conall O'Brien sick. :(

[Captain THPS4]

With photography there's nowhere you can go to take classes, you can only increase the skill by taking pictures or reading the skill book. Egypt is the best place to start learning it because it has all 3 cameras available at the general store. China and France only have the cheap one that increases photography skill the slowest.

Another benefit of learning to teleport is that you can warp past bouncers to get into VIP clubs with Late Night. :lol: